General Methods Blog#1

Topic:  Recognizing Outstanding Work.  How can teachers recognize the outstanding work their students do?

One of the most satisfying things for a teacher is the chance to see a student excel. We look for it every day and we are delighted when we see it. After all, it means we are doing something right! It also means the student(s) are learning. Chapter 4 of the Marzano text deals with recognition and offers numerous insights into how it might be done effectively.

So how can we recognize the outstanding work of students? I think it starts by making it personal. Marzano says that “when recognizing the accomplishment of a performance standard…it is best to make this recognition as personal to the students as possible.” Since every student is unique as a learner, each one will have different personal achievement goals. If they get the chance to share these with the teacher, they will take more ownership over them. The intrinsic motivation will be them challenging themselves to reach them. The extrinsic motivation comes from us as teachers in the form of abstract and concrete recognition.

I think the best example of abstract recognition is verbal ‘praise’, where we help students realize the progress they have made. We don’t want to overdo this, as this could mean students get unnecessarily praised for easy tasks, resulting in a lowered perception of ability. But one of the most important jobs of a teacher is to come alongside students and encourage them in their goals. Concrete recognition can be useful to recognize students who have achieved specific performance goals. That way, the intrinsic motivation to get to the goal remains intact, while the extrinsic motivation can help a student realize achievement of the goal.

In my classroom, I have 5-point bonus coupons. I give them out for a variety of reasons, including participation in extra-curricular class-related events, for answering special trivia questions, and for winning review games before quizzes and tests. I admit that the distribution is a bit random, and as such, may be considered by Marzano to be ineffective. It also rewards mere participation at times, which may also suggest ineffectiveness. I like the idea of the bonus coupons. Perhaps this year, I can think of ways to make the program more connected to personal achievement, effort, and accomplishment.

In summary, I think it is essential that teachers reinforce effort and provide recognition to students. In order to do this effectively, it needs to be informed by the student’s personal achievement goals. The more we can make it personal as we work to bring out the best in each student, the more we will build each student’s intrinsic motivation for learning. In other words, forget the candy – I want to do well on this because I understand its value to me and I believe with effort I can do it!